The Making of the Constitution

Abstract

The United National Party had made its position clear on the constitution of the First Republic at the time of its enactment. Its then leader, Dudley Senanayake, in a lengthy statement to the Constituent Assembly on 22 May 1972 declared that while his party accepted the principle of ‘a free, sovereign and independent republic’, the political climate in the country had not been conducive to the task of constitution-making; the people, he added, had not been provided adequate opportunities to participate in the operation.¹ The leader emphasised that the constitution contained many defects and omissions and that more importantly it could represent an erosion of the poeple’s liberties. From that moment, it became obvious that the party would seize the first opportunity to dismantle the First Republic and install another in its place.